Mary Mcdonald Bedroom
Victoria Pearson
SENGA MORTIMER: Many people choose a decorator after seeing his or her work in a magazine, but you're on TV. Did you two connect through Million Dollar Decorators?
MARY McDONALD: Kimm Uzielli and I actually met in high school; we've been friends for decades. And coincidentally, I went to college with her husband, Alessandro, who is the great-great-grandson of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. When they married, started a family, and found this Georgian Revival in Beverly Hills, it was a natural fit to work together. We already had an aesthetic understanding. Throughout the project, we laughed all the time about those high-school years.
KIMM UZIELLI: Mary has always been my inspiration. She's a fairy godsister! She just exudes style. And she gets who I am. I'm so glad I enlisted a dear friend for our home instead of simply hiring any decorator.
What was the design assignment?
MM: A decade ago, when it began, Kimm and Al knew they wanted decor that would withstand time in a classic manner. I went a traditional route, with punctuations of color and touches of glamour. Al asked that the interiors reflect the East Coast environment he had grown up in, plus be the right atmosphere to showcase his growing photography collection. But it also had to mesh with Kimm's California roots. And the house had to work for kids and dogs. So it needed to be chic and very livable.
You describe the living room as polished yet unfussy — very East Coast meets West.
MM: We wanted a sense of calm elegance, with lots of welcoming seating groups for a growing family. I chose a neutral, creamy scheme — with gray, black, and yellow accents — that heightens the bold photography but also acts as a canvas to add furnishings to over the years.
Victoria Pearson
You're known for whimsical spaces — this study, for instance, is brimming with Chinese ceramics so oversize, they look like people filling a room.
MM: I love blue-and-white interiors and blue-and-white ceramics in particular, and I can always come up with new versions of the theme from which to create. Kimm wanted that fresh Hamptons feeling, but the study needed to be cozy, so the warm chocolate-brown background seemed right. I loved the daughters' art, so we had their works framed to hang on some of the walls, which added a playful family effect. And then we brought all the same fabrics into the kitchen, including the breakfast-area banquette, which we had matte-laminated for practicality.
How has your style evolved since you started out in the 1990s?
MM: I've gone from colorful maximalist to appreciating a more neutral, linear minimalism, and then back again. There is really not a lot I don't love or can't appreciate — just not every style all at once. For this place, I wanted to incorporate contemporary furniture as a little current of tension within a traditional base.
What's the most important room in the house for you?
MM: The bedroom. Your bed must be inviting, and the room should offer a feeling of soothing intimacy even if the space is modern. I love to eke out a sitting area in even the smallest of bedrooms, however it can be done. Maybe a corner banquette or settee at the end of the bed — wherever you can create a niche that says, "Sit here and read." And most important, I like to focus on a luxurious bed — clean-lined fabric panels, for instance, or some kind of screen behind the bed for ambience. A calming or cozy color scheme can make all the difference. Jarring colors or willy-nilly textiles scream in a bedroom, defying a feeling of privacy or rest.
Victoria Pearson
Because you are friends, is this a decorating project that never ends?
KU: Exactly! Mary will come over and casually suggest something that will add a fresh quality to the house. She knows all these little things that make a big difference. Over the course of our lives here — with Mary at the helm — we live with an extra layer of enjoyment.
More About Mary McDonald
Home Base:Los Angeles
Firm founded:1995
Instagram: @marymcdonaldinc
As seen on:Bravo's Property Envy and Million Dollar Decorators
You'll never regret splurging on: Your spouse! And also a rug.
Tips for using your trademark black? Paint it all black. If clients won't go for that, I punctuate the room with ebony side tables or black boxes. I love it, and a little goes a long way.
You'd never admit you shop at: I'll admit everything! I shop all over — people with great style don't care where something's from. I've found treats for the eye everywhere from catalogs to garage sales.
What makes a big impact for less than $100? Painting the backs of bookcases. My go-to colors are Farrow & Ball's Dix Blue and Rectory Red and Benjamin Moore's Whitall Brown.
You're a stickler for: Measuring. It's a real bore but the core of the business. You can't use it if it doesn't fit!
One rule: Leave 18 inches or more between the coffee table and the sofa, or you can barely get by.
Signature window treatment: I'm a frustrated ball-gown designer, so I like two layers of curtains with a double rod. Even the simplest pleat can make a room feel finished.
Flowers: Big, blowsy peonies, piles of white hydrangeas, or a wad of the same tulip.
Sheets: I use mainstream brands for kids' and guest rooms, but in a master, beautifully monogrammed Leontine Linens are divine.
Best book: My own! If that's sold out, I'd opt for one of David Hicks's books.
See more photos of this gorgeous home here »
This story originally appeared in the April 2016 issue ofHouse Beautiful.
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Source: https://www.housebeautiful.com/home-remodeling/interior-designers/q-and-a/a5633/mary-mcdonald-interview/
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